Ratings & Reviews

This has got to be one of my all time favorites, however ridiculously overpriced as you can find with any Teavanna tea. When you first get it, you might not find the smell of the leaves very enticing, but once you brew it you'll find that it is a somewhat perfume-y tea, you won't find that it tastes perfume-y, but it has a much more soulful taste? The kind of taste where there are levels to it, it tastes meaningful.

I'll start with that this tea was a gift. I usually drink an Assam or Yunnan. I don't have much experience with Oolongs. Pale amber/yellow color. The green part of the mix certainly moderates the flavor. Subtle and smooth. This should be a great choice for an Oolong fan.

I will first start off by saying that this tea is well over priced at Teavana. I can buy the same quality Ti Kuan Yin elsewhere for around $4.00-$4.50 per ounce. With that being said, this is one of the best Oolong teas out there. I do find though that you really either love this tea, or you hate it. I love it, my wife hates it so..... Anyway, the loose tea itself doesn\'t smell all that appealing. But, when you add the water a wonderful orchid aroma engulfs the air. Once the liquor hits your pallet you know you are drinking a truly fine tea. It is smooth, flowery, clean, and super relaxing. I think the best part about this tea is that you can re-steep many, many, many times. The second and third steeps are my favorites. I have gotten all the way up to 5 steeps with the tea still being drinkable. Next time I will try for six! A couple of pots of this and you will be in Zen land!

This is a nice, subtle oolong. The leaves are fairly green and the fermentation flavor is mild. I think new tea drinkers or occasional tea drinkers may have trouble appreciating the subtlety of this tea, but I'm told it blends well for people that like their teas to have stronger flavors. Because of its gentle flavor, this is a good tea for early in the day, or with dim sum or congee.

I got some of this tea in a trade from a friend, and it was enough that I have been able to experiment with brewing it a bit. I've been enjoying it quite a lot; this tea is versatile and pleasing to drink.

This is a greener oolong, but not among the greenest. I think this might place it in the zone where it is more accessible to western tea drinkers than some of the greenest oolongs. The aroma is strongly floral, but with woody tones as well. Compared to Foojoy's Monkey Picked Ti Kuan Yin, this one was much greener and had a much lighter roast.

My main complaint on this one is the price: it's absolutely astronomical: $25 for 2 ounces, with no discount for buying larger quantities. A second complaint related to this tea is oriented towards Teavana's sales practices--in one store I had the Teavana staff get more than a little bit pushy about recommending this tea, which was, not coincidentally, the most expensive tea in the store at the time. I don't appreciate that, and it was one of my first impressions with the Teavana chain, and left a marked negative impression on me that has been reinforced by reading of other's experiences with pushy salespeople.

I sampled this tea side-by-side with Life in Teacup's Bai Ya Qi Lan, from a different varietal of oolong, in a greener style, but side-by-side the teas were similar, and I slightly preferred the one from Life in Teacup...but here's the kicker. That tea was $4 an ounce.

I do think this is a very good tea. But it's not up to the level of the competition-winning teas that I've sampled, it's just a solidly high quality oolong. And, for teas in this price range, you can buy top-notch teas, including competition-winning teas from Taiwan and China, in a similar style, which really blow this one away. Or, you can find teas of similar quality for much cheaper (read $8 or less for 2 ounces).

External Reviews

Food Junk, a food blog, gives a detailed review of this tea, including preparation and photos, from the perspective of someone who is not usually a drinker of high-quality artisan teas. The blogger also writes about Teavana's aggressive sales tactics.